This week health workers and other staff at Oregon Health and Science University were promised several thousand dollars as part of a COVID-19 hardship bonus. But the email was fake, and it was sent by their own administrators.
The email promised up to $7,500 in assistance 鈥渢o all employees who are experiencing financial hardship as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.鈥�
鈥淪upporting our employees, and community is essential during these challenging times,鈥� it concluded.
The email included a link that took workers to a web page announcing that the email was a phishing exercise 鈥� a way to train employees not to be tricked by scams. OHSU workers weren鈥檛 getting a bonus after all.
鈥淚t was a tone-deaf response to everything we鈥檝e been experiencing with COVID,鈥� said OHSU registered nurse Natasha Swartz. 鈥淭he hospital knows how much everyone is just struggling emotionally regarding the amount of extra work we鈥檝e had to put in and the amount of loss we鈥檝e seen over the last two years.鈥�
OHSU later apologized for the email and deleted it from staffers鈥� inboxes.
In a statement, OHSU administrators called the phishing exercise a 鈥渕istake.鈥� They said the email used the same language from a real phishing email that was sent to thousands of staffers.
鈥淭he real scam was insensitive and exploitive [sic] of OHSU members 鈥� and the attempt to educate members felt the same way, causing confusion and concern,鈥� it reads.
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